Please note – OWGR stands for Official World Golf Ranking, and it is taken from the time at which each player joined the leage. Most players will see their world rankings drop, until such time that LIV Golf qualifies for world ranking points.
LIV Golf Players Full List - with Analysis of each Player
| Player Name | OWGR | Analysis |
| Cameron Smith | 2 | Cameron Smith is arguably LIV Golf’s biggest scalp so far. British Open champion. World No 2. A mullet to die for. Cameron Smith is outrageously talented and clutch under pressure. It’s just sad that he will now spend the majority of his time playing mashie golf on the Saudi Golf Tour. |
| Dustin Johnson | 16 | Comfortably the best golfer in the LIV golf league. Of all the players in Norman’s rebel circuit, Dustin Johnson has spent the most weeks as world No.1 ranking in the top spot for over 135 weeks over the course of his career. This puts him behind only Tiger Woods and Greg Norman in terms of total weeks spent as the highest ranked golfer in the worl. |
| Joaquin Niemann | 19 | Losing Joaquin Niemann is another big loss for the PGA tour. The uber talented Chilean phenom is destined for greatness. However, he might find it more difficult to qualify for majors going forward. Losing major eligibility is the biggest risk in his career right now. |
| Brooks Koepka | 19 | The second best player in the LIV golf league. While he dominated the majors for a 3 year period, Koepka has been a shadow of his former self after struggling with a wrist injury. Arguably the biggest douche in the world of golf. Has also spent 47 weeks as world No.1 |
| Abraham Ancer | 20 | An amazingly accurate ballstriker and a very good putter. 1 PGA tour victory to his name, and nothing special in the majors. |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 23 | Very good at finishing second in majors. Arguably the worst closer in the game of golf. Ridiculously talented, but not great under pressure. |
| Bryson DeChambeau | 29 | Love him or hate him, Bryson has one of the biggest followings in the game of golf. Since becoming the longest hitter on the PGA tour, his fanbase skyrocketed. He has struggled to rediscover the form that landed him the US Open in 2020. |
| Paul Casey | 30 | According to Paul Casey, the human rights trajectory of Saudi Arabia is heading the right direction. So while they still condone public beheadings, it is conceivable that they might put an end to this practice in future. LOL. Casey is a sportwasher’s wet dream. The Saudi prince is very happy with his press conferences so far. |
| Kevin Na | 34 | Famous for his ability to walk in putts within milliseconds of making contact with the ball. Kevin Na is a talented golfer, and he can close the deal when he’s in contention. He is a loss to the PGA tour. |
| Jason Kokrak | 36 | This is a pure money play for Kokrak. Based on his interviews since joining, he is at least appreciative of how the PGA tour has set him up for life. As a golfer, Kokrak spends a lot of time in neutral, only to hit excellent patches of form once or twice a year. He will collect some LIV golf victories in time. |
| Patrick Reed | 38 | Does anyone actually enjoy watching Patrick Reed playing golf? Fun in Ryder Cups, if only because he is so good at riling the crowd. Mr Reed hasn’t done much since winning the masters in 2018. He has no ethical concerns over the LIV golf tour, or cheating during tournaments. |
| Talor Gooch | 39 | Talor Gooch was on the rise prior to joining the LIV golf tour. He also attempted to take credit for the PGA tour updgrades that Jay Monohan is now implementing. He is a basically a less talented version of Sam Burns, and his surname is Gooch. |
| Harold Varner III | 46 | Harold Varner III chatted to Michael Jordan (one of his key sponsors and mentors) about joining LIV golf earlier in the year, only to be dissuaded by the basketball GOAT. However, the allure of guaranteed prize money a lucractive contract have clearly swayed HV3. |
| Cameron Tringale | 53 | It’s not surprising to see Cameron Tringale join LIV golf. He has amassed over 17 million dollars on the PGA tour, but without earning a victory. Nevertheless, he obviously needs to get paid more for his inability to close the deals. T10’s on the LIV golf tour are very lucrative. Good on you Cameron. |
| Sergio Garcia | 59 | The man with more Ryder Cup points than anyone and a collection of chips on his shoulder. When he’s playing well, he is very fun to watch. However, he also throws tantrums when things don’t go his way. He is very good at blaming everyone other than himself when things go badly. |
| Marc Leishman | 63 | To be perfectly honest, there’s nothing truly remarkable about Marc Leishman’s golf game. He’s a reasonably good closer and he doesn’t make too many mistakes. Norman needed him to complete the all Australian LIV Golf team. |
| Richard Bland | 70 | Richard Bland is famous for having the second most European tour starts before claiming his first victory (478). Since then, he has been riding on his good form, playing the best golf of his career as he approaches the age of 50. |
| Pablo Larrazabal | 70 | Pablo Larrazabal is an affable Spanish golfer that blows hot and cold. When he’s on form, he can get things done on the DP world tour, racking up 7 wins over the course of his career. |
| Matt Jones | 72 | Matt Jones has a few claims to fame. He plays faster than anyone the PGA tour, he has a super hot wife, and he has two victories to his name. At the ripe old age of 42, Mr Jones is ready to cash in and spend more time with his wife and family. |
| Matthew Wolff | 75 | People will argue that losing Matthew Wolff is a loss to the PGA tour. In reality, it is Mr Wolff’s golfing ability that is lost. He knows that LIV golf is the safest bet for his particular golfing abilities. He is no longer in the same ball park as Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland. He has the potential to become the next Anthony Kim. In other words, really good for a short while, only to fall off the golfing map completely. This is sad, because it’s nice to see players with unique swings doing well. |
| Shaun Norris | 76 | Like Richard Bland, Shuan Norris is playing his best golf in the latter half of his career. He secured his first DP World Tour win in 2022, he has multiple victories on the Japan tour, and he secured his financial future by finishing 2nd in the first Saudi Golf tour event. He chose to cash in, the Mr Norman has paid him handsomely for doing so. |
| Sam Horsfield | 77 | Sam Horsefield is an affable and talented English golfer that has done reasonably well on the DP World Tour. |
| Phil Mickelson | 83 | Phil Mickleson has more majors (6) and more PGA tour victories (45) than any other player in the line-up. Mr Norman offered him 200 million dollars because of his cult like following, his exciting playing style, and the need to clear all his gambling debts. Nice one Phil. |
| Lee Westwood | 85 | Lee Westwood is like a modern day Colin Montgomirie. In other words, he has done very well on the European Tour, but he has failed to shine on the PGA tour, and he has no majors to his name. He has openly stated that his primary reason for playing golf is to make money. We can at least respect his honesty. It would be refreshing if more LIV golfer’s were this frank about their motivation for joining. |
| Bubba Watson | 87 | According to Watson, his wife actually decided that it was time for him to join the Saudi Oil money tour. She analyzed his dwindling form over the last couple of years and made an executive decision to cash in. Someone might need to warn Bubba that the Saudi prince does not condone men that have a tendency to cry frequently. He will need to use all the extra dollar bills in his pocket to wipe away the tears before they make it to his cheeks. |
| Bernd Wiesberger | 90 | Bernd Wiesberger is one of the most unexciting professional golfers in the world right now. He basically just bunts the ball onto the fairway and avoids making mistakes. He got slaughtered in his first Ryder Cup visit, scoring exactly 0 points for Europe, because he doesn’t make enough birdies. Well done Greg. Great signing. |
| Ryosuke Kinoshita | 91 | Ryosuke Kinoshita is a veteran on the Japenese golf tour. He has 2 Japanese tour wins to his name. He hasn’t done much outside the boundaries of Japan however. |
| Anirban Lahiri | 92 | Finally Mr Norman has acquired the services of a reasonably accomplished Indian Golfer. Anirban has a magical short game and he’s played for the internal President’s cup team. There’s no doubt his career earnings will skyrocket as a result of this switch. |
| Scott Vincent | 92 | Scott Vincent is a Zimbabwean golfer that has played most of his professional golf on the Asian Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. He has 3 wins on the Japan Golf Tour and 1 win on the Asian Tour. |
| Hudson Swafford | 95 | Hudson Swafford is like the B grade version of Harris English. He wins on the PGA tour every five years or so. He has amassed 9.5 million dollars playing golf on the PGA tour, but the allure of making similar amounts without having to play well was to great for Hudson. |
| Oliver Bekker | 96 | Oliver Bekker is a 7 time winner on the Sunshine Tour. At the age of 37, it’s easy to understand why he is taking the opportunity to cash in using Saudi oil money. It represent his best opportunity to set himself up for the future. |
| Ian Poulter | 98 | Let’s be honest. Ian Poulter is great to watch in the Ryder Cup, where he punches above his weight with incredibly good putting under pressure. During normal tournaments, Ian Poulter’s golf is the very definition of forgettable. In the rare circumstances where you see his name near the top of the leaderboard, it serves as a reminder that he is actually in the field. Most of the time it’s hard to tell if he’s playing, because the leaderboard doesn’t give any airtime to the middle of the pack. |
| Branden Grace | 108 | Branden Grace is a bit like the South African version of Graeme McDowell, minus the US open and charisma of the Northern Irishman. He’s a good closer when he gets in contention, racking up multiple victories on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. |
| Justin Harding | 109 | In 2017, Justin Harding was a Sunshine Tour journeyman pro with a world ranking of 712. By the end of 2018, he shot up to world number 85. For a middle aged golfer, it was a meteroic rise driven by steady improvement over the couse of 12 years. |
| Jinichiro Kozuma | 109 | Jinichiro Kozuma has played the majority of his golf on the Japan Golf Tour, notching up 2 victories in the process. He will licking his lips at the opportunity to quadruple his earnings while playing golf. |
| Sadom Kaewkanjana | 119 | Sadom Kaewkanjana is a professional golfer from Thailand that has played most of his golf on the Asian Tour. He has 2 Asian Tour wins and 5 Thailand golf tour wins. |
| Carlos Ortiz | 119 | Although Ortiz is outside the top 100 at the moment, he is a top 50 player when he’s on form. With 1 PGA win and 3 Web.com wins to his name, he can get things done when he’s in contention. |
| Laurie Canter | 122 | There is a rumour that Laurie Canter’s wife is actually responsible for his decision to join the Saudi Golf league. She took at the numbers and gave him his instructions. He’s the type of lad that needs the wife’s permission to play golf with the lads on a Sunday, even if it’s a professional tournament. |
| Charl Schwartzel | 123 | Charl Schwartzel is a former masters winner (2011) and he has a few PGA tour victories to his name. Since changing to a broomstick putter, Schwartzel has rediscovered some of his early career form. The first golfer to win a LIV golf tour event, and now he no longer has to worry about money because of it. |
| Hennie Du Plessis | 134 | Hennie Du Plessis is a reasonably talented and relatively young South African golfer. He has amassed €393,711.90 in 32 tournaments on the DP World Tour. He is on a mission to 10X his earnings by joining the Saudi Golf League. |
| Phachara Khongwatmai | 136 | Phachara Khongwatmai is another Thai golfer that has joined the LIV Golf league. He has 1 Asian Tour win and 7 Thailand Golf Tour wins to his name. |
| Sihwan Kim | 137 | Sihwan Kim is a young golfer from Korea that showed huge promise in his junior career, winning the US Junior amateur in 2004. As a professional, he has been most successful on the Asian Tour, finishing 8th on the order of merit in 2018. |
| JC Ritchie | 161 | Despite his Spanish-sounding name (Juan Carlo), JC Ritchie is in fact South African that has been playing very well on the Sunshine tour over the last 2-3 years. If he gets dialled in, he could be a surprise winner of a LIV Golf event. |
| Adrian Otaegui | 169 | Adrian Otaegui is a DP World tour golfer with 3 European tour wins to his name. He has amassed over 5 million euros in 251 starts on the DP World tour. |
| Pat Perez | 170 | Pat Perez is the ultimate example of a shit or champagne golfer. He spends most of time flittering around the middle of the pack during tournaments, only to hit purple patches of form when he goes super low. On his day, he is a birdie machine. |
| Henrik Stenson | 171 | Of all the players to join the Saudi Golf Tour, Henrik Stenson’s transition is arguably the most controversial. Stenson effectively turned his back on his Ryder Cup captaincy and his Ryder cup team mates, reneged on his contractual obligations, and put his arms out for boat loads of Saudi Oil money. This is a pure net worth play for Stenson. He is no longer competitive on the PGA tour, but like Schwartzel, he has found his niche on the overpaid, no cut, pre-champions tour exhibition events hosted by LIV golf. |
| Charles Howell III | 177 | Despite 42 million dollars on the PGA tour (with only 3 victories to his name), Howell fully understands that jumping ship to LIV golf is the best way to cash in on his incredibly boring golf game. He doesn’t hit the ball particularly far, and he’s terrible with a putter in his hands. If you want to see lots of pars and the occassional birdie, keep your eye on Charles Howell III. |
| Hideto Tanihara | 183 | Hideto Tanihara is a Japenese golfer with 16 wins on the Japanese tour. He has qualified for 15 majors so far in his career. LIV golf represents the best opportunity for him to cash in on his mediocre talent. |
| Martin Kaymer | 224 | Martin Kaymer is one of those former world No 1’s that simply isn’t as good as he used to be, and not because of age. After trying to learn how to hit a draw successfully in order to contend at the Masters, Kaymer broke his swing. Now he has a two way miss and he can longer qualify for the Masters because of his lowly world ranking. The golfing gods can be cruel. Kaymer knows this all too well. |
| Jediah Morgan | 251 | Jediah Morgan is an exciting Australian golfer with an upward career trajectory. He won the PGA tour of Australasia order of merit for the 2021/22 season, at the ripe old age of 21. Keep your eye on this lad. |
| Blake Windred | 269 | Like his compatriot Jediah Morgan, Blake Windred is also a young and exciting Australian golfer. He finished second on the Australasia order of merit for the 2021/22 season, earning a DP World tour card in the process. |
| TK Chantananuwat | 279 | The first thing you need to know about TK Chantananuwat is that he is 15 years old! became the youngest golfer to win on a tour recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking at the age of 15 years and 37 days. Is it even legal to pay this lad money? The Saudis clearly don’t have a problem with underage workers. LOL |
| Wade Ormsby | 285 | Wade Ormsby is an Australian golfer that has amassed 1 victory in the 353 starts. With more than 4 million euros earned in prize money so far in his career, he will be looking to push above the 6 million mark by joining LIV golf. A purely financial play for Ormsby. |
| Peter Uihlein | 329 | It’s easy to understand why Peter Uihlein has jumped ship to the Saudi Golf League. He has spent most of his career chopping and changing between the DP World Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour. Now he can just focus on one tour, where average professionals can thrive just by arriving at the tournament. |
| Graeme McDowell | 372 | According to Graeme McDowell, LIV Golf is growing the game of golf and acting as a force for change. He doesn’t realize that this is the sportwashing script that the Saudi golf kings have been crafting for years. His popularity has taken a dip since joining the LIV Golf League, but his bank balance is morbidly obese, so it all balances out in the end. |
| Ian Snyman | 379 | Ian Snyman is a relatively young South African golfer that has performed well on the US college circuit. His professional career hasn’t been particularly successful, but he will be salivating at the prospect of Saudi oil money. He will quickly go from scraping by to living comfortably, provided he doesn’t get knocked out of the picture by higher profile golfers joining the LIV golf league. |
| Travis Smyth | 405 | Travis Smyth is a talented Australian golfer that has seen his career trajectory stagnate due to the impact of covid 19. However, no that all the tours are back up and running and he has a place in the Saudi Golf league, he will be ready to show the golfing world what he is capable of. |
| Viraj Madappa | 503 | Viraj Madappa is the only Indian golfer to join the LIV Golf league. He has one Asian tour win to his name. It is somewhat surprising that there are only two golfers on the LIV tour from the second most populous country on the planet. |
| Itthipat Buranatanyarat | 607 | Itthipat Buranatanyarat is a middle tier Asian tour golfer. He is still trying to figure out how he qualified for the LIV golf tour. |
| Turk Petit | 615 | Turk Petit is an up-and-coming American golfer that won the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. He has all the attributes needed to be a highly successful professional. He has taken the first pot of gold to come his way. He has not interest in winning proper golf tournaments |
| Oliver Fisher | 1081 | If anyone is thanking the Saudi Arabian golfing gods for his good fortune its Oliver Fisher. This lad is the very definition of a washed-up has-been desperate for a payday. He represents everything that is wrong with LIV golf from a meritocracy standpoint. There are literally more than a thousand golfers more deserving of a spot than he is, if you use the official world golf ranking as a measurement of a golfer’s current playing ability. |
| Kevin Yuan | 1083 | Given that Kevin Yuan is outside the top 1000 golfers in the world, you might be wondering how he qualified for the LIV golf series. He did so “via his standing this year in the International Series Order of Merit”. That description on the LIV golf website is almost as dodgy as their source of funds. |
| Andy Ogletree | 1445 | Andy Ogletree’s biggest claim to fame is that he won the 2019 US Amateur. His professional career is only just beginning. He has effectively jumped ship from the Korn Ferry Tour to the LIV Golf Tour in order to capitalize on guaranteed payments. |
| Chase Koepka | 1607 | The only reason Chase Keopka qualified for the LIV golf tour is because his brother is super famous. Mr Norman’s team tried the same trick with Matthew Fitzpatrick’s brother. He is probably the least deserving member of this tour. In terms of sporting talent, he is comparable to Novak Djokovic’s brother (ie an average pro destined to a lifetime sentence living in the shadow of their sibling). |
| David Puig | 1706 | David Puig is a young Spanish golfer that has been ranked as high as 5th in the world amateur golf rankings. It remains to be seen how well he will fare as a professional golfer. He certainly has the talent needed to succeed, but it’s his mental game that will be tested in the years ahead. |
| James Piot | 1785 | Despite his world ranking, James Piot is one of the most exciting prospects to join the Saudi Golf leage. He won the US Amateur in 2021 and turned pro soon thereafter. Not afraid to put all his professional eggs in the LIV golf basket. |
| Eugenio Chacarra | 1804 | Despite his lowly OWGR ranking (1804) at the time of joining, Eugenio Chacarra is one of LIV golf’s best signings. He is/was the No.2 ranked amateur in the world. He has cashed in on his talent at the first possible opportunity. |
